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10/08/2004 01:28:00 AM | Justin No WMD stockpiles in Iraq after 1991, according to Bush-appointed weapons inspector Charles Duelfer (link) The latest weapons inspection findings are pretty devastating. I don't even think I would have argued before the war that Iraq had no WMD stockpiles after 1991 (all I said was there was no credible evidence), but now we have the Bush-appointed inspector saying just that. As the NYT editorial today points out, this appears to be a major vindication of the much-attacked sanctions regime: In retrospect, there's no doubt it was more effective than even the anti-war crowd had expected. Nonetheless, Bush continues to say in speeches that Saddam failed to comply with the U.N. weapons inspectors. I haven't yet found anyone who can explain how there could have been any substantial non-compliance if Iraq really had nothing to hide. The lack of motive for non-compliance is a pretty clear indication that the alleged "non-compliance" was mostly media hype. A decent argument can still be made that Iraq may have been able to reconstitute their weapons were sanctions lifted, as some people wanted, but it doesn't seem plausible that Iraq could have posed any real threat as long as sanctions were in place. The humanitarian argument that less Iraqis would die in an effort to change the regime than would die as a result of indefinite sanctions has some merit, but only if a stable Iraqi government takes hold in the near future. The only other semi-legit argument against sanctions is to attack their credibility by pointing out the alleged oil-for-food scandal. But whatever Saddam may have been skimming off the top, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that he was using that money for WMD-procurement. The Bush Administration is really running out of credible defenses for their blood-soaked invasion. perma link |
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